Members of the community are being invited to have their say on where and when alcohol can be bought in Tauranga.

Consultation on the revised draft Local Alcohol Policy opened for month today and follows significant changes to the draft policy, which was first consulted on in December 2021.

Tauranga City Council commission Chair Anne Tolley says the revised proposed changes are not aimed at stopping people from purchasing alcohol, but controlling the times they can access it, to help reduce the harm caused by alcohol in the community.

She encourages everyone interested in the policy – even those who have previously provided their thoughts – to share their views on the recent updates.

'We understand that the requirement to re-consult on this policy may be onerous for some people, but we want to make sure it achieves what it sets out to do, which is to reduce alcohol-related harm,” she says.

Hearings on the policy will be held in November this year, following which the council will consider submissions in December.

A LAP is a set of decisions made by a local authority, in consultation with its community, about the sale and supply of alcohol locally.

All LAPs are required to be updated every six years to meet the provisions of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012. The last time council reviewed the policy was in 2015.

The proposed changes (since last year's consultation on the draft policy) include:

• Keeping the closing time for on-licence premises in the city centre (such as bars and nightclubs) at 3am rather than 2am, as proposed in the earlier draft LAP
• Removing one-way door provisions for premises like bars and nightclubs
• Moving the time alcohol can start being sold from 7am to 10am for all off-licenced premises (such as bottle stores and supermarkets)
• No new on-licenced premises in areas zoned industrial in the City Plan
• No new bottle stores established in suburbs where increased access to alcohol is likely to result in greater harm*
• A range of discretionary conditions that can be applied to off-licenses.

*Suburbs which have a deprivation index of seven or more, including Yatton Park, Baypark-Kairua, Greerton South, Gate Pa, Tauranga Hospital, Hairini, Welcome Bay East, Tauranga South, Te Reti, Pāpāmoa Beach North, Brookfield West, Arataki South, Tauranga Central and Mount Maunganui Central.

The community can have their say on the Tauranga City Council website or by picking up a consultation pack from the Customer Service Centre at 21 Devonport Road or one of our libraries, until Friday, September 16.